The invention lies in the fields of newspaper folding and insertion technology. More specifically, the invention pertains to a device and a method for folding newspapers and preparing the half-folded newspaper for the insertion of inserts.
Newspapers are generally printed in rotary printing machines in which a continuous web of paper is fed from a roll and through a plurality of printing units. After the printing is finished in the last printing unit, the web continues on to a folder, which is considered the last module along the press line. In the folder, the web is cut and folded to form signatures. The signatures are arranged in accordance with their page numbers and they are stacked and delivered for post press processing. Such processing includes the insertion of auxiliary materials, such as special journals, advertising brochures, and flyers. The inserts can generally only be placed at the center of the paper, because the half fold can only open in the center.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,751 to Dutro describes a mechanism with which the half-folded signatures can be unfolded so that the signatures may be placed into the central fold. In order to allow a punch or a suction wheel to partially open the fold for insertion, a stack of signatures is folded not along the center line, but instead along an off-centered fold line. As a result, one half of the stack is slightly longer and its edge portion thus protrudes from the free end of the folded stack. The protruding portion can then be handled more easily, so that the half-folded stack can be opened for receiving the insert.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,205 to Hansch describes a folder in which one of the individual ribbons that are cut from a broadsheet web in a slitter prior to folding is cut with a greater width than the other ribbons. After the ribbons are cut, the signature cut from the wider ribbon is placed as the innermost signature. When the stack of signatures is folded, the innermost signature protrudes past the other signatures. The protruding portion can then be utilized to open the half-folded stack for placing an insert. The protruding material is then cut from the stack after the insert has been placed. The foregoing solutions do not provide for a flexible placement of the insert.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a newspaper folder and a folding method, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which allows for completely flexible placement of inserts in newspapers.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method of folding multi-section print material, which comprises:
transporting a plurality of sections of print material in a folder of a printing machine;
stacking the sections to form a signature stack having at least one of the signatures offset in the transport direction by a given amount; and
subsequently folding the stack of signatures to form a half fold with the at least one offset signature protruding from the half fold by the given amount.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the method comprises:
simultaneously transporting the plurality of sections of print material along a first web path and a second web path;
cutting the sections of print material in the first and second web paths into respective signatures;
simultaneously delivering the signatures from the first web path and the second web path to a folding device, with the signatures from the first web path delayed by the given amount so as to form a stack of signatures having the signatures from the first web path offset by the given amount; and
folding the stack of signatures in the folding device to form the half fold having a trailing edge of the signatures from the first web path projecting from the stack by the given amount.
Typical inserters require a lap amount of approximately 10 to 25 mm.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the print material is transported in a plurality of ribbons, each of the plurality of ribbons of the print material is subjected to a former fold, and the former-folded ribbons are selectively diverted to the first web path or to the second web path.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the folder is operated in collect mode, i.e., the sections are accumulated and stacked on the first cylinder (pin cylinder or gripper cylinder,) of the folder before the half fold is formed.
With the above and other objects in view there is also provided, in accordance with the invention, a device for folding a newspaper with a plurality of sections, comprising:
a transport device for transporting a plurality of newspaper sections printed on a continuous web;
a cutting device receiving the newspaper sections and cutting the continuous web into signatures;
a folding device receiving the signatures and folding a stack of the signatures in a half fold with at least one of the sections protruding from the stack by a given amount; and
a half fold delivery receiving the half-folded stack from the folding device and transporting the half-folded stack for further processing.
In accordance with again an added feature of the invention, the transport device includes a plurality of rollers configured to selectively deflect each of the plurality of sections from a plurality of formers to a respective web path, and wherein one web path is configured to delay an arrival of the section transported and cut therein a the folding device by the given amount.
In accordance with again an additional feature of the invention, an idler roller is disposed to selectively delay the arrival of the section transported thereby at the folding device.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the cutting device is a two part cutter consecutively cutting two sections from the continuous web, and the cutter is adjusted to cut the sections to mutually different lengths.
In other words, multi-section print material, such as a newspaper, is folded so as to enable inserts to be placed at any location or at multiple locations within the half fold. Several sections are stacked onto one another with one of the signatures offset in the transport direction by a given amount. When the stack is subsequently half-folded, the protruding signature forms a lap which enables an insertion device to automatically insert at the lap position. The system may be operated in straight operation or collect operation. In one embodiment, the sections are transported in two web paths where they are cut into signatures. One of the web paths is delayed so that its signature arrives at the half fold gripper or pin cylinder slightly later than the signature from the other web path. The subsequently formed half fold has the trailing edge of the later-arriving signature protruding by a given lap amount that enables the downline inserter to insert at that position.
With this invention, it is thus possible for inserts to be placed at any location within a section of a half-folded newspaper. For example, the insert can be placed beside a tabloid if the tabloid formed the center section of a broadsheet paper. In general, inserts can be placed between any sections of a newspaper and the invention also allows for inserts at multiple locations.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a newspaper folding device and method, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of the specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.